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Church family,

Yesterday was a different day. I got up and came to the office, ready to go! Some things were on my schedule, but I still had some flexibility. It didn’t take long for things to be thrown off schedule.

We’ve all had those days. Maybe more often than we’d like! The question is how do we respond to them? Do we let the sudden, unexpected, and ‘unplanned for’ take control of us? Or do we make the best of things and remember there’s a faithful, omniscient God who made this day?

Yesterday the Internet was out at the office! If you rely on the Internet to do a portion of your work and being online is a necessity, it can throw a wrench into your day! Well, I can tell you what we did. We made it a ‘snow day’ or ‘Internet day’! Honestly, we flexed with things well. The ministry staff had their meeting, shared, and laughed a little more!

We ate lunch together, prayed together, and did what we could. I had the chance for a couple of good conversations with folks who came by the office. Did our initial agendas get done? Nope. But we got to know each other a bit better! Connections were strengthened.

We all need these types of days. Days where we take time getting to know others. Times when we open up our hearts and lives. Times where we laugh with and at each other.

How do you see the ‘Internet’ days that come your way? It may not be the loss of the Internet, but it could be anything that is ‘normal’ in your life. When your plans are interrupted, or the normal happenings get temporarily rearranged, do you remember you have a Father in heaven who knew about it way before you did? You might say. “The Internet isn’t a big deal.” For most of us, I would agree. Any interruption, no matter how large or small, temporary or long term, can change our day/life. We all have these God-ordained interruptions in our lives. How do we respond to them?

Psalm 46:1-3 (NLT) God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!

This day, this year, and this life are not all there is, if you are a child of God! There’s a grander future ahead, one that will be amazingly perfect and free from interruptions! A promised future that we will enjoy forever, with our Savior and our brothers and sisters in Christ!

Remember to keep the bigger picture in mind and make the best of the unexpected things that interrupt your lives! Nothing that comes our way comes apart from God’s hands.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

February has begun, the Super Bowl hype is over, and we find ourselves just past the middle of winter. For many, New Year’s resolutions have been hard, and many have fallen ‘off the tracks’. Let me encourage you to persevere! Lift your eyes to Jesus!

Hebrews 12:1-3 (ESV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 

From the moment of our salvation to the moment of our death, we are running a race.

The challenge here is to endure – to finish the race. Do not give up! Look to Jesus! I believe that our endurance is directly connected to our ‘abiding in Him.’ If you have trusted Him as your Savior, you have a relationship with Him. The barrier of sin and death was removed by His death and resurrection! We are united with Him. We are in Him and He is in us!

Let me encourage you to abide in Him. Read His word to know Him. Pray to know Him. Worship Him! This ‘communing’ is where the confidence and strength to endure to the end comes from. The Spirit deepens your relationship with God as you abide in Him.

Let me recommend some resources if you are needing something to encourage or develop communion with your Father.

Book –Transforming Prayer:  How Everything Changes When You Seek God’s Face by Daniel Henderson    

Book – With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God by Skye Jethani 

App – Mission 119 – Your Personal, Guided Tour Through the Bible

Running with you!

Pastor Brian

Church Family,

Last week I shared an excerpt from Paul Tripp’s book, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change. I trust you have had a chance to reflect on what I shared with you. Today, I want to share with you three principles that Paul Tripp brings from this passage. But first, let’s read the passage again.

Matthew 23:25–26: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean.”

Christ’s illustration establishes three principles that guide our efforts to serve as God’s instruments of change in the lives of others.

1. There is an undeniable root and fruit connection between our heart and our behavior. People and situations do not determine our behavior; they provide the occasion where our behavior reveals our hearts.

2. Lasting change always takes place through the pathway of the heart. Fruit change is the result of root change. Similarly, in Matthew 23, Christ says, “Clean the inside of the cup and dish and the outside will become clean.” Any agenda for change must focus on the thoughts and desires of the heart.

3. Therefore, the heart is our target in personal growth and ministry. Our prayer is that God will work heart change in us and use us to produce heart change in others that results in new words, choices, and actions.

We know that the Apostle Paul encourages believers to ‘take off their old clothes’ and ‘put on their new clothes’. This would be something that we do with the help of the Holy Spirit. Those old clothes are things of the world – character and identity. New clothes are things of the kingdom of God – character and identity. This is part of the process of ‘heart change’, sanctification.

Paul Tripp says, “our prayer is that God will work heart change in us and use us to produce heart change in others that results in new words, choices, and actions.” 

Praying for change is confessing that something isn’t right in our heart. In our ‘talking to ourselves’ and to others, are we pointing them to the need for heart change? Are we pointing them to the Savior who is the only one who can bring real change?

I encourage you to desire real change – heart change. I encourage you to call out to Jesus. He’s the only one that can make it happen.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church Family,

The next two weeks I am sharing an excerpt from Paul Tripp’s book, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change. We often struggle with seeing real change in our own lives. We also wrestle with change happening in the lives of those we love – family members and friends. Read and reflect upon these words from Jesus in Matthew:

Matthew 23:25–26: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean.”

Some thoughts from Paul Tripp:

Change that ignores the heart will seldom transform the life. For a while, it may seem like the real thing, but it will prove temporary and cosmetic.

This often happens in personal ministry. From a distance it looks as if the person has really changed. When held accountable, the person does and says different things. The husband seems to be gentle and attentive to his wife. The teenager seems to treat his parents with new respect. The depressed person is up and out of the house. The broken relationship seems to have been restored. But the changes don’t last and in six weeks or six months, the person is right back where he started. Why? Because the change did not penetrate the heart, so changes in behavior were doomed to be temporary. 

This is what happens to the teenager who goes through the teen years fairly well under the careful love, instruction, and oversight of Christian parents, only to go off to college and completely forsake his faith. I would suggest that in most cases he has not forsaken his faith. In reality, his faith was the faith of his parents; he simply lived within its limits while he was still at home. When he went away to school and those restraints were removed, his true heart was revealed. He had not internalized the faith. He had not entrusted himself to Christ in a life-transforming way. He did the “Christian” things he was required to do at home, but his actions did not flow from a heart of worship. In the college culture, he had nothing to anchor him, and the true thoughts and motives of his heart led him away from God. College was not the cause of his problem. It was simply the place where his true heart was revealed. The real problem was that faith never took root in his heart. As a result, his words, choices, and actions did not reveal a heart for God. Good behavior lasted for a while, but it proved to be temporary because it was not rooted in the heart.

Next week, I will share some principles from this passage in Matthew, that Paul Tripp offers in our effort to encourage change. These truths are insightful as we seek personal change and to minister to others for real change.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

 

Church family,

The new year is but a few days old. In spite of the changes, uncertainty, and turmoil all around us, there is much to rejoice in because of Jesus! We do not go into this year alone. We do not go into any day alone. Praise the Lord for His provision and constant presence with us!

A few days ago, I was reading and came across this prayer that I wanted to share with you – A Gospel-Shaped 2018.

After reading this prayer, five phrases catch my attention:

May it be a year

• filled with knowing You better
• boasting in You more robustly
• serving You more joyfully 

 May intimate fellowship with You seize our hearts.

Our only New Year’s resolution is to believe the gospel more fully and gladly.

What will it take to realize this resolution for you? Consistent time in His Word?

Focused time in prayer? Intentional time with the body of Christ? Maybe a better grasp of the gospel? Let me start by reminding you of this – “the gospel is the power of God.” Maybe spend time this year pursuing the personal understanding of this truth. It starts by choosing to abide in Him. Ask Him to help you understand and walk in the truth of the gospel. Let this be your prayer. It will change your life!

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

As we begin a new calendar year, let’s live with these thoughts from 1 Peter 1:3-12 in mind:

Remember who you are. Embrace your identity in Christ. Do not let the enemy tell you differently! You are united with Christ; in Him! He keeps you and your inheritance secure.

Understanding what God is doing. Remember His greater purpose in your life: everything is brought into our lives to point to the Savior. The work that the Spirit will do in the tests, trials, and grief is part of the process of your sanctification.

Celebrate your salvation! Your salvation was HIS plan before the foundation of the World! Reflect on how you came to place your faith in Jesus as Savior.

Don’t ever forget that Jesus has purchased a future for you that is better than anything you could have dreamed or planned for yourself.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (NLT) So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

As I sit in my office early in the morning, I look at my calendar and am reminded that there are four days until Christmas. I have reflected on my ‘readiness’ for Christmas – “Do we have everyone’s gifts?”, “What is on the schedule and list that needs ‘to be done’ before the 25th?”, etc. Yes, family starts to arrive at our home today and continues over the next couple of days. We will have good times and memories made.

I am also reminded that the Christmas season is different for everyone. For some, it will be that children or family will not be coming this year. For others, a loved one has passed on and there will be an ’empty’ place at our gatherings. There are those around us who have had serious physical or emotional setbacks that will affect their Christmas. Life is full of the unexpected.

Let me remind you that Jesus knows and cares. His coming was “not the norm” and was different than most expected. How He came left many uncertain of who He was. John 1:11 (ESV) He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. This Christmas, take time to look to Jesus. Reflect upon who He is, why He came, and His love for you!

Let me share with you some reflective seasonal writings:

Christmas Is for Messy Lives 

A Word to Those Who Are Lonely This Christmas

Why Do We Have Christmas Trees?

Worship Christ the Lord!

Love to you all!

Pastor Brian

Church family,

In recent weeks, our news headlines have been filled with new revelations of sexual misconduct/abuse by prominent men throughout the country. It seems these allegations are of men from a wide range of places and positions. I am sure that as we have heard the news, our hearts perhaps are sickened and disappointed. Perhaps it has led to personal reflection.

As we discussed this current issue in our staff meeting this week, it was clear that we were reminded that sin is messy. Sin is something we are all infected with and it does not just effect men. Yes, we are saddened that many women have been sexually harassed and abused. Sinful mistreatment of others is always unacceptable.

As children of God, we are in the midst of a heart transformation. Actually, Jesus is praying for us in this process…

John 17:14-20 (ESV)  I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

Jesus is praying that we will be kept from the evil one – Satan. He is praying that we will be sanctified (set apart to God and from sin) in the truth – God’s Word. He prays that as we are in the world, the Spirit of God would go with us and protect us. In this process of sanctification, we will often face difficult personal challenges. The question is, will we let the Lord do that work within us? Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, does ‘spiritual surgery’ as part of the transformation in our lives. Sin ‘has to go’ in that process. It’s a necessary work He does in us.

What Jesus is acknowledging in John 17 is that we are in a battle. This idea of being in a battle was the focus of our discussion Monday night in our Men’s Bible Study. As author and speaker John Eldridge said, “The scriptures are all about the battle between God and Satan.” The wonderful news is that God has defeated Satan through the death and resurrection of Jesus! Jesus is our Savior! He is a victorious warrior!

As you know, as we have placed our faith and trust in Jesus He becomes the One we can look to and call upon for help. He is the one who can rescue us from sin and the evil one! After all, it’s clear we can’t do it ourselves!

In the men’s study, John Eldridge reminded us that the real battle is the battle for our heart. He also broke down where the battles were: the flesh, the world, and Satan. Let me briefly distinguish between the three.

1.  Flesh – it says ‘take the easy way out. You don’t have to be or do what God says.’ The flesh appeals to our selfishness. It appeals to your flesh – not doing things God’s way.
2.  World – it makes promises it can’t keep. The key word is ‘counterfeit’. The lure of power/position/control, wealth/possessions, and popularity/fame offer a false sense of security.
3.  Satan – the master deceiver, father of lies. As Eldridge says, “Has it ever crossed your mind that not every thought that crosses your mind comes from you?” Satan lies all the time.

In all this, the sad thing is that we don’t think Satan exists. We have bought the “father of lies” lie! Be reminded, the Word of God tells us of his existence. It also tells us to be aware of him!

1 Peter 5:8-9a (NLT) Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. 

So where should we be in all this? Remember, we are all infected with sin (no one is exempt). Man’s heart is wicked. Thank God for Jesus – for His saving and sanctifying work – the gospel! Thank Him for His grace and forgiveness – the gospel! And don’t forget – Satan is a real liar. Be aware of his schemes! If needed: reflect & let the Spirit search your heart, confess your sin, repent, and walk in Him!

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Insightful article – A Great Sexual Reckoning

Church family,

I want you to reflect on this quote from author and pastor, Paul Tripp.

We must not reduce Christianity to a system of theology and rules. Theology and rules will never redeem you. They were never given by God to be an end in themselves. They are a means to an end. Their purpose is to cause you to see the depth of your need and the sufficiency of Christ’s work so that you might run to him in the desperation of faith, placing your hope in his grace and having your heart filled with awe of him.

As we have concluded Paul’s letter to the Galatian believers, remember…

Galatians 2:16 (NLT) ¹⁶ Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

May this Christmas be one that you realize again the depth of His love for you. His grace is more than sufficient for you!

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

Thanksgiving is past, and November is almost complete. Black Friday and Cyber Monday came and went.

In the news there are almost hourly stories of anger, hurt, & selfishness. One person accusing another. Words tweeted, posted – lawyers hired. It appears that even though as Americans we’ve tried to convey “we’ve got it all together”, man is really a mess! What we are seeing is the exposure of the reality of our heart. Man is sinful, in desperate need of a Savior. Be reminded though, the one main difference between you and they, is that you have recognized you are “a mess” and have run to the Savior. The only person who can meet our need is Jesus. He is the gospel message.

Since I have been your pastor, I have preached to you an overall message that “the power of God is the gospel.” There is no other solution to our problem of sin. I have preached on how we need to relate/see God, who Jesus says that He is, what life in the Kingdom of God looks like, embracing God’s Word, knowing our identity in Christ, and now finishing the letter to the Galatians – the good news of the gospel is by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone! Our family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, council members, mayors, and all government leaders all need the message of this gospel!

This Christmas season, pray for and take opportunities to talk about the hope of Christ with others. We aren’t just celebrating the birth of a great man, but a great Savior!

Psalm 115:1-18 (NLT)
¹ Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness. ² Why let the nations say, “Where is their God?”    ³ Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. ⁴ Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. ⁵ They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. ⁶ They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. ⁷ They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. ⁸ And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. ⁹ O Israel, trust the LORD! He is your helper and your shield. ¹⁰ O priests, descendants of Aaron, trust the LORD! He is your helper and your shield. ¹¹ All you who fear the LORD, trust the LORD! He is your helper and your shield. ¹² The LORD remembers us and will bless us. He will bless the people of Israel and bless the priests, the descendants of Aaron. ¹³ He will bless those who fear the LORD, both great and lowly. ¹⁴ May the LORD richly bless both you and your children. ¹⁵ May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ The heavens belong to the LORD, but he has given the earth to all humanity. ¹⁷ The dead cannot sing praises to the LORD, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. ¹⁸ But we can praise the LORD both now and forever! Praise the LORD!

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian